Command & Conquer: Generals (PC CD)

Description

Product Description The armies that will clash in Command and Conquer: Generals are the super powers of United States and China, and a massive underground organization, the Global Liberation Army, bent on drowning the world in anarchy and terror. Each of the three sides represents a distinct geo-political viewpoint and will fight the war with vastly different tactics and weaponry. To make the experience of modern war as immersive as possible, EA Pacific is using a proprietary state-of-the-art 3D engine, code-named "Sage," which delivers unprecedented detail and interactivity. Because of Sage, Generals' battlefields will include fully modelled urban cityscapes, rugged deserts, vast forests and frozen wastelands. Amazing special effects will allow players to crush cars with hulking tanks, blow out the windows of skyscrapers, or lace the skies with smoke from duelling fighter planes.Generals will include a full single-player campaign along with a full multiplayer component played over a LAN or the Internet. .co.uk Review One of PC strategy gaming's most influential franchises comes scarily up to date, inviting the player to take command of technically advanced armies in a world that's teetering on the brink of war. Command & Conquer: Generals also successfully maintains the hybrid of strategy and battle that have made its ancestors so revered. The game presents three armies in need of command--the US, the Chinese and the Global Liberation. The game is subsequently broken down into 27 single-player missions. To throw in a further twist, you now command a general. As you progress, the general gets promoted and this opens up new technologies and tactics. The most obvious move forward is in the graphics, with the action more close-up and detailed than before. In some ways, it takes a leaf out of the book of the excellent Medieval: Total War, but Generals is a strong game in its own right. Made suitably accessible by a tutorial campaign, it's surprisingly simple to control yet presents numerous options to mull over in every situation. The missions are varied and challenging and the arsenal of weapons--from hardware such as a scud storm through to a simple kamikaze car driver--keeps the brain constantly ticking. Perhaps it doesn't stray too far from the tried and tested formula, choosing to do most of its building on the sturdy foundations set over the years. But there's little denying that this is polished, highly addictive and engrossing entertainment. And if you play it online, it could very easily eat your life away. --Simon Brew